Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), and Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). UMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transfer speeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks.
In these systems, the RF performance at the access terminal is a key feature for which further optimization is continuously sought. Thus, many variations of receivers have been developed, and can provide excellent RF performance for wireless access terminals.
One of many issues with which designers of RF receivers are faced is interference. For example, in any multiple access system such as a cellular communication network, interference caused by wireless communication with other users in the network can inhibit the receiver's performance. Furthermore, by virtue of multipath fading, interference from the desired signal itself, which can be smeared over time by the channel before arriving at the receiver, can additionally inhibit the receiver's performance. Because different types of receiver can better address different types of interference, some access terminals have been known to include more than one type of receiver, or in other examples, two or more functional blocks may be included within a receiver, such as its front-end or back-end. In this way, selection of a more suitable receiver, or a more suitable functional block, may be made in an effort to improve the overall performance of the receiver.
As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, research and development continue to advance the technology not only to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but to advance and enhance the user experience with mobile communications.